Learning Lab Seminars

A new round of seminars from the learning lab have been announced - including What makes elearning effective for different sectors (22nd March), VLE's and beyond (3rd May), and e-Assessment (24th May).

Personalised Learning

A focus on personalised learning in schools was announced by the DfES recently (DfES, News Centre). An expert panel has been created to review the current state of play, "recommend ways to ensure that personalised learning is a reality in every classroom and set out a vision for how teaching and learning should develop between now and 2020".The review, which is expected to report by the end of 2006 will look at: • teaching and learning strategies, especially in literacy and numeracy;• best use of setting and grouping;• improving parental engagement;• how personalised learning can close the achievement gap and boost social mobility;• addressing the needs of gifted and talented children;• use of ICT and pupil data to personalise learning; • the potential for workforce reform to support personalisation;• utilising flexibilities in the National Curriculum;• collaboration between schools to deliver educational opportunities.

The Office Chart That Really Counts

This article from business week online highlights the growing use of social network analysis (SNA) in the corporate secter, and provides several interesting real-world examples of its use. However the question of confidentiality is also raised, and is a tricky one - maps can reveal sensitive information about the interconnections within an organisation, and as such access must be carefully monitored.

Problem Solving

What happens to a problem deferred?Does it dry uplike a raisin in the sun?Or fester like a sore—And then run?Does it stink like rotten meat?Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet?Maybe it just sagslike a heavy load.Or does it explode?

The impact of an individual deferring problems, regardless of their role, can be devastating for an organisation. In the article, "Thinking through problem solving" (pdf), Valerie A Washington outlines the 6 stages of the 'Ladder of Problem Solving'model:

Podcasts on the bus?

What I'm dabbling with is using Feedreader on my Pocket PC (Dell Axim). This is relatively painless, and offers the potential to listen to Go Digital and many other sources while on the move. (Although I needed some extra storage capacity, the feederreader guidance on how to set it up is pretty straightforward, including pointing to the extra bits needed to put the software on your SD card.)